Why Your Pastor Needs Encouragement
by Bill Allison with Dave Garda

[Note: When we speak of encouraging pastors, we mean any and all pastors at your church: senior pastor, associate pastor(s), youth pastor, children’s pastor, etc.]

As rewarding and fun as it is to serve fulltime in a church, leading a ministry can also be daunting, demanding, and disheartening. Though not every church experiences this, a primary challenge many pastors face is an incredibly unhealthy pattern where key people in the church have taken on the role of adversary to the pastor. Instead of working together with the pastor to impact their community and the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, this small and sometimes powerful pocket of lay-church leaders engage in a battle—not with the devil—but with the pastor, whom they see as very dispensable. A primary WMD (weapon of ministerial discouragement) they use on a pastor is, in my opinion, emotional terrorism:

• gossip
• a constant stream of petty complaints (I’m not talking about sin issues—but issues of personal preference that get unjustifiably elevated to biblical importance)
• surprise votes of confidence at congregational meetings
• unsigned letters spewing negativity
• secret “prayer” meetings by church power brokers that happen when the pastor is away
• looks of disgust and contempt while the pastor preaches

Consequently, the words that describe many of the pastors I know and love are tired and discouraged—and in more than a few cases—defeated.

Revolving Door Pastors
It’s no surprise, then, to discover that the average pastoral tenure in a given church is anywhere between three to five years. Ironically, research indicates that a pastor’s most fruitful years of ministry at a church tend to happen between years five and fourteen (Barna). Think this through with me. About the time a church and a pastor start to hit stride and begin moving forward in the cause of Christ, the pastor (willingly or grudgingly) moves on to the next church. Dr. Thomas Rainer, Dean of The Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, speaks directly and concisely to this lamentable state when he writes,

“A church cannot attain health with a series of ‘revolving door’ pastors. Such is the plight of the great majority of churches in America. The constantly changing [pastoral] leadership engenders inconsistency of vision, undeveloped leaders, regular programmatic changes, and a power vacuum that is often filled by some of the biggest troublemakers in the church.”

What Can You Do?
It’s time for you to get on the solution side of this problem. Instead of embracing the role of pastoral impediment—or allowing others in the church to adopt this disposition—I challenge you to throw yourself with wild abandon into the ministry of encouraging your pastor. Starting now, I challenge you to be a blessing and encouragement to your pastor by covenanting together with God, others in your church, and your pastor to practice Seven Biblical Ways God Wants You to Encourage Your Pastor.

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NEW: Seven Biblical Ways God Wants You to Encourage Your Pastor

Seven Biblical Ways God Wants You to Encourage Your Pastor is a twenty-eight page interactive workbook that is designed to help you (and others in your church) encourage your pastor. Great for small groups, leadership retreats, Sunday school, or personal study. Your pastor needs your encouragement, and God wants YOU to make a difference in your pastor's life. Here's how...

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Cadre Training Coming Your Way…

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10/07/2006 Peoria IL CONVERGE (Cadre's Evangelism Is Relationships training) Date: 10/07/2006 - 10/10/2006 Location: Four Different Training Hubs in Peoria, IL, see www.convergepeoria.com for dates & times Tuition: $10.00 (Training materials included) From 9/10 to 10/3 the Peoria IL area will be hosting four of Cadre's Evangelism Is Relationships training workshops as a part of CONVERGE. Visit www.convergepeoria.com for complete info. For more information, please contact oneheartbeatministries@hotmail.com

10/13/2006 Rockford, IL Cadre Training Festival Date: 10/13/2006 - 09/14/2006 Location: First Evangelical Free Church, 9AM-4PM Tuition: $125.00 (Training materials included) Friday = Cadre trainer's certifcation in Evangelism Is Relationships. Saturday you can take in three Cadre training tracks: Ministry Is Relationships, Batteries Included (for jr. high workers) and Shepherding track. For more info contact Rennie. For more information, please contact rennie@cadreministries.com

11/04/2006 Central Illinois Area, Saturday Ministry Is Relationships! Date: 11/04/2006 Location: First United Methodist, Peoria, IL, 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM Tuition: $10.00 (Training materials included) Aimed at students and adult volunteer youth workers who participated in CONVERGE 06. For more information, please contact jeff@oneheartbeat.org

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